perfume

Fragrance Friday: Blasted Bloom
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Fragrance Friday: Blasted Bloom

Well, he’s done it again. My nice husband turns out to have an instinct for choosing wonderful perfume on my behalf and this time, he brought home a brand new scent from London for me: Penhaligon’s Blasted Bloom. What my husband had no way of knowing is that the nose behind Blasted Bloom is the legendary Alberto Morillas — who also created another perfume he brought me from his travels, which I love: Fragrance Friday: Custo Barcelona L’Eau. Morillas has also created several others I like, such as Estee Lauder’s Pleasures and Bvlgari’s Omnia Coral and Omnia Indian Garnet.

From Penhaligon’s website: “Illuminating the freshness of wild flora found along the dramatic British coast, Blasted Bloom captures a free-spirited landscape where the energy and majesty of the Sea meets the natural richness of the Land. The mineral purity of an aquatic accord meets the fruity sparkle of wild berries and the sensation of hand-crushed green leaves. Wild floral heart of eglantine rose and hawthorn is tinted with pink pepper. A whisper of Clearwood™ is enveloped in balmy cedarwood, on a smooth bed of moss and musks.” Continue reading →

(Black) Fragrance Friday update
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(Black) Fragrance Friday update

When last heard from, Gentle Reader, I was about to be dragged by three offspring into the wilds of “Black Friday.” Negotiations resulted in the acceptable compromise of avoiding all malls but going to an outdoors shopping district that is much less crowded but has many of the same stores. I clung to the hope that in the midst of gift and clothes shopping, I might encounter some fragrance deals.

Success! Continue reading →

Fragrance Friday: S(c)en(t)sory Overload
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Fragrance Friday: S(c)en(t)sory Overload

This is the fragrance story I was going to share last Friday, before I heard about the attacks in Paris. So last Friday was a Fragrance Friday moment of silence in honor of one of the world’s greatest fragrance cities. This Friday, I’ll describe my recent (and first) visit to Los Angeles, the Broad Museum and the Scent Bar.

I was in Costa Mesa for a conference; an old friend had recently moved to Los Angeles and invited me to spend some time with her downtown, where she lives. We made plans to spend the morning at the new Broad Museum of contemporary art, where she works on weekends, then eat lunch in Little Tokyo, then make our way to the Scent Bar, storefront and home base of http://www.luckyscent.com, a noted online retailer of independent, niche and hard to find perfumes.

First, the Broad Museum. Continue reading →

What Went Well
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What Went Well

Lots of wonderful things went well this week!

  1. I spent 24 hours with an old friend, who has moved to LA to make a new life after several major transitions, and we had a fantastic time, as if we haven’t been apart for several years. Because she lives in my heart, even though we don’t see each other often any more.
  2. I visited a fantastic new museum, thanks to my friend: The Broad, in downtown LA. It was an amazing experience and it has a wonderful collection of contemporary art. Because its founders, the Broads, are generous philanthropists who want to share their art collection and because my friend is an engaged participant in LA’s Arts District.
  3. We also visited a spot on my bucket list, The Scent Bar, a fragrance store that specializes in niche and independent perfumes, where the staff could not have been nicer or more helpful (I’ll write more about it on Fragrance Friday). Because my friend and I decided to be a little adventurous and do some exploring. So much fun!

What went well for you this week?

Photo: NPR.org

Fragrance Friday Special Edition: Taif Rose
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Fragrance Friday Special Edition: Taif Rose

Wow. I delayed posting because I had asked my globe-trotting husband to bring me a small bottle of real Arabian perfume from his business trip to Dubai. And he did: Taif Roses by the fragrance house Abdul Samad Al Qurash. This is the real deal, friends. It is a traditional Middle Eastern perfume oil that comes in a small, one-ounce bottle which will probably last me the rest of my life as it is so concentrated. I have it on my wrists right now but I just opened the bottle, so I can’t yet describe its progression. Here is the only longish review from Fragrantica.com:

This is a very potent oil to dab on your wrist, inner elbow, behind the ears, at your neck or at your temples. I am not a floral person, generally appreciating orientals and sweeter perfumes or those that are unique in some way. That’s where this one steps up to the bat.
Obviously, you must appreciate the taif rose. It is said that this particular fragrance contains the extract of 12,000 taif roses. In other words, you Must Love Taif Roses.
The first aroma is of course pure rose, a delicious, pure, rose bush. You are nestled amongst a bed of roses, surrounded by the ethereal, heady bouquet. It’s creamy, smooth, perhaps you can even imagine the morning dew in the essences of Taif rose. And then it sweetens slightly, just ever so. The oil stays this way for about an hour. Then the magic begins.
Suddenly, I felt as if I could smell the wet earth the roses were planted in, the leaves that had dropped and mixed in with the rich soil, pieces of branches that had fallen to the ground and begun to decompose. This was such a rich, decadent odor yet very real. Nothing seemed synthetic. As I felt I had my hands in this rich soil and was inhaling the richness of it, suddenly, the Taif rose came back to wrap itself around the entire perfume. And that’s how it continued to stay for hours. A mixture of reality. This is purity, not to be taken lightly.

The writer is exactly right about the first flush of roses. Nothing about this smells artificial or synthetic, it smells as if you are in the world’s largest, most fragrant rose garden with your nose buried in blossoms. The fragrance is very smooth and warm without being spicy. I look forward to smelling it as it develops today! I’m sure that’s how long the two little dabs will last.

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THE ROSY SCENT TRAIL OF MS. PUSEY

Wonderful musings on media, life, perfume and literature, all rolled into one post on Black Narcissus!

ginzaintherain's avatarThe Black Narcissus

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I lost my iPhone in June, and have not looked back. I was walking home at night, late after work, exhausted, and coming up from the Kitakamakura pond to cross the railtracks, it must have fallen out of one of my pockets ( I had just been using it, after leaving the convenience store, so I know I definitely had it), but by the time I was standing in front of the great Engakuji and its soaring pine trees, an exquisite, ancient zen temple and place that even business people on their way home from Tokyo often stand before and pray to, it had gone. Even then I knew, strangely, that I didn’t really care, but I of course naturally went through the motions of looking for it in the undergrowth, backtracking and rootling among the shrubs by the pond just in case: oh well, maybe I’ll find it in the…

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Fragrance Friday: Rosemary
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Fragrance Friday: Rosemary

I grow rosemary. I love the small blue flowers, the grey-green evergreen foliage that resembles needles. But most of all, I love the scent of rosemary. Freshly picked and minced, rosemary adds fragrance and complexity to so many dishes. In ancient Greece, rosemary was thought to improve the mind and memory, a belief later supported by some modern studies of aromatherapy. It later came to signify remembrance: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.” Ophelia, in Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5. Rosemary was also carried in a bride’s bouquet or worn in a bridal wreath as a sign of fidelity. All in all, an herb and fragrance with many meanings and nuances. Some lovely quotes about rosemary, and its uses, can be found at the blog The Herb Gardener. Even more detailed information about its varieties and culture is at Auntie Dogma’s Garden Spot.

Coincidentally, a fragrance that currently fascinates me also has rosemary among its notes: Diorissimo. I used to wear it many years ago, in the 1980s. Diorissimo is another scent that seems to send the perfume blogosphere into orbit — not because people hate it but because they mourn its reformulation. I loved it because of its strong lily-of-the-valley fragrance, another favorite scent and plant of mine. (I grew my own to carry in my bridal bouquet and for my husband’s boutonniere). I hadn’t realized Diorissimo also has notes of rosemary until I did a search for rosemary-inflected perfumes on Fragrantica.com. Another surprise? It appears in Hermes’ Un Jardin Sur le Toit, which I am lucky enough to have received as a gift but haven’t tried yet! Can’t wait, as I have loved the other Jardin perfumes. Tomorrow, perhaps?

Rosemary may be having a cultural “moment.” The most recent catalogue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a gorgeous rosemary necklace with patinated metal “leaves” dangling from freshwater pearls. The jewelry maker is Michael Michaud, and his company makes a whole line of rosemary jewelry. I plan to enjoy this moment while it lasts! And maybe I’ll even try today’s Diorissimo.

Photo: Auntie Dogma’s Garden Spot.

Fragrance Friday: Cabaret, Cirque du Soleil
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Fragrance Friday: Cabaret, Cirque du Soleil

I love reading other people’s comments on perfumes. Some are full-length reviews by known “perfumistas”, others are anonymous comments on sites like Fragrantica.com.  Many are very clever and evocative. For instance, this comment about the eau de parfum Cabaret, by Gres:

It is a rose chypre, somewhat melancholy in feeling but still alive. Like a ghost…. Cabaret is a great name…it also reminds me of my theatre background. Fresh soft florals, mostly rose at the top, and the base is a very dry clay smell. It is cool and elegant with a transparent, almost dusty smell. I think of the atmosphere backstage at every show I have been involved in. Antique wood counters in the dressing room, waxy makeup and powder strewn across them. Vases and vases of roses and lilies. That musky smell of fresh sweat from dancers just coming off stage.

The image that immediately came to my mind was a Cirque du Soleil show I saw this year, called “Zarkana.” It is described as being set in an abandoned theatre that mysteriously comes back to life for an evening, starting with the appearance of ghostly white figures of performers like ballerinas and acrobats with white-powdered hair and stage make up. At the start, the huge stage is lusciously draped with great swags of crimson velvet. The pale figures emerge from the darkness after the curtain swirls upward. And at the very end of the show, the cinematic backdrop turns into a rippling cascade of deep red roses, while the same ghostly performers and other more colorful characters come out to take their final bows.  Maybe this perfume should be renamed Zarkana. Or at least Cirque.

Finale, Zarkana, Cirque du Soleil.

Photo: Cirque du Soleil.

Fragrance Friday: Mink
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Fragrance Friday: Mink

Recently, I sampled Boucheron eau de toilette. And I did NOT care for it. Too strong for me, too heavy. But I had some on a test strip, which I took home to share with my daughter. I left it on a table in my bedroom. Over the next night and day, it dried down into a more pleasing scent — still not right for me, but strangely familiar. I just could not put my finger on what it evoked.

A day later, I had it! Although Boucheron was launched years after my parents’ social prime, it reminded me of their cocktail parties, when one of my jobs was to greet guests, take their coats and lay them neatly on the big bed in a guest room. Many of the women wore minks. And that is what Boucheron called to mind. Unapologetic wealth. Old school elegance. A statement perfume for women who wear statement jewelry. Not my style, but impeccably designed to a high, specific standard. Just like Boucheron jewels. I’ll pass, but thanks for the memories.

Photo: Philippe Pottier, 1957, from highlowvintage.com

Fragrance Friday: Ginger Lilies
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Fragrance Friday: Ginger Lilies

Late summer and early fall are the season in the South for white ginger lilies, hedychium coronarium. They are tall, tender perennials with long, sword-like green leaves topped by fluttering white flowers whose large petals inspire the plant’s other common name: white butterfly lily. Our next-door neighbor has a magnificent clump, which sends its perfume floating over both of our gardens. I have tried to grow it myself, mere yards from his thriving specimen, without success. The white ginger lily is fickle by nature. But oh, that perfume! Many scents have been called intoxicating; the ginger lily’s fragrance truly is. Designed to lure pollinating insects at night, the white flowers’ scent intensifies in the dark humidity of Southern summer nights.

Imagine my anticipation, then, when I learned that Jo Malone has a cologne named Dark Amber and Ginger Lily. I looked it up on Fragrantica.com and realized that it has notes of ginger, and water lily, but it has nothing to do with ginger lilies. It sounded lovely, though, and I had a sample from a purchase of Tudor Rose, so on my wrists it went. Mmmm. I don’t often like Oriental spicy perfumes, but when I do, I really do. And I really like this one. Warm, soft, a whisper of cardamom with the ginger top note, a floral bouquet for a heart, a touch of glove leather in the base notes. Definitely on my wish list. But nothing to do with actual ginger lilies.

My curiosity piqued, I decided to explore further. And voila! Continue reading →